[Q1 2026 Hospital Management Trend Report] Restructuring of Fees, Value-Based Payment, and the Beginning of Medical AI Internalization

An Era of Transformation, Where Executives Must Stand Again The shock wave triggered by the collective action of resident doctors in 2024 was not merely a workforce vacancy. It was an event that laid bare the fact that the structural premises upon which South Korean hospital management had long relied—namely, the low-cost, high-labor talent pool of resident doctors, external growth through bed expansion, and a revenue equation maintained under fee-for-service systems—no longer operate. In our Q4 2025 report, we analyzed the reality of that shock and initial responses. Now, passing through Q1 2026, the question we ask has changed. It is no longer "How do we survive?" but "What kind of hospital should we redesign into?" Q1 2026 is a quarter where three massive currents intersect simultaneously. First, as the method of determining medical fees shifts from bulk negotiations to an ongoing fee…